To a certain extent, context determines how ugly a loss looks. Under normal circumstances, a 9-0 defeat can be classified as convincing. But after the first five games of a neck-and-neck NLCS in which no game has been decided by more than three runs—and in which the two teams have combined for nine runs only once—a 9-0 defeat feels like a lopsided, impossibly-out-of-reach embarrassment, especially considering that the losing team started the best pitcher in baseball.